Istanbul Airport

✅ Trip Verified | Architecturally and engineering-wise a very good looking building. And that’s were the good things end. I have traveled a lot, been to at least 15 international airports, from the smallest like ZAD to the giants like FRA. First of all, this airport and all its services are severely understaffed. Check-in counters are abundant, but only 15% of them are staffed. Same goes for the border control. There are two security checks, one when entering the building, and one after passport control. They are essentially same, which means one of them is a redundancy and a loss of at least 30 minutes of Your time. Never in my whole life have I arrived earlier at an airport. I was there almost four hours prior to the departure, and I barely made it to the gate in time. 80 check-in desks were operated by 20 personnel, and to add even more bad news, they were excruciatingly slow. Info displays are small and there are not nearly enough of them. After the passport control and the second security check, I saw on the display that my flight had only 5 minutes left to board. I ran and ran just to arrive and see that everything was late and I had 45 more minutes to sit and wait. So the main display was not up to date with information. There is no simple Wi-Fi solution, neither paying nor free, You need at least 15 minutes to make that work, and that’s if You know what You’re doing. I couldn’t check what the restaurants and shops offer at all because I was in a hurry, so I’ll leave that out. Last but not least, is the sheer distance from the city (Istanbul) and the means of transportation (or lack thereof). The best and only option for now is to hire a private shuttle or a taxi(cab). The public transport options like metro or high speed train are non-existent at the moment. If, after all you’ve read, you find yourself departing from this airport, please get there at least five or more hours before the planned departure. Anything later than that is too stressful, especially if You are aware that all the problems could be solved with 3-5 times more staff that could work there.

Not Verified | This airport services for old people are very poor and so ignorant. It took more than an hour to get a wheelchair for my 80 year old mother and after lots of requests. No one seems to care about the elderly at all. I made several complaints about not facilitating a wheelchair for my mother but no one cares. The old people get treated with ignorance and lack of respect in Istanbul Airport, what a shame! I think the management of this airport are distorting the image of the country with such shockingly poor and service and surely they deserve no respect.

Not Verified | They offer only one hour of free wifi, and even for that need to scan the passport at a kiosk, then type the passport number and the received password. It is very awkward in practice. Also there is a huge amount of shops and very few places to sit.

Not Verified | Worst airport ever! How hard is it to answer a simple question such as "how do I connect to the wifi" politely? FYI they have a very confusing and awful wifi system at the airport. Moreover I was talking with the information desk person! My flight was from LA and there were many passengers having the same problem. I got pretty annoyed and went to the Turkish Airlines customer service desk but there were already angry customers yelling so I left. If I remember correctly I had a terrible experience last time too. Some airport worker actually yelled at me in Turkish for asking direction. So, I will never fly again Turkish Airlines and hopefully avoid Istanbul Airport.

Not Verified | The usual cold, indifferent and rude service from Turkish Airlines staff in the airport. Many passengers not observing Covid precautions. Huge airport, poor lay out. Ample duty shops and eateries but all very expensive and overpriced. Not enough seating and many passengers sitting down on the floor. Boarding was slow and scrappy with airport staff shouting at confused passengers. An unpleasant experience and rates very poorly compared to European airports. Not recommended.

Not Verified | I just arrived in Istanbul airport and after waiting for a long time to check my passport with my child. The police asked me something in Turkish and I just told him if he can repeat it because I don't understand Turkish he yelled at me in front of everyone and made me cry. Also didn't let me in he just send me away. I felt very sad also because me and my 1 year old son who was so tired because we traveled alot and than this experience had made my day ruined. Everyone was in shock and asked me why he is so rude with me. I love Turkey I love Istanbull airport itself is one of the most beautiful airport and there are soo many travelers, they shouldn't let such angry people work there.

✅ Trip Verified | I couldn't get a boarding pass for my connecting flight due to the amount of time between the flights because Turkish Airlines decided to change one of my flights. I was kept in the transit area for over 12 hours with no access to or any proper seating area. I had to plead with the people at the desk to give me a boarding pass so that I could go through security.

Not Verified | There's not much good to say about this airport. Despite its size, there was almost no seating or charging stations. Finally I had to visit a very overpriced and mediocre restaurant for a chance to rest my legs (without having to sit on the floor like so many others). What finally made me decide to write this review was the extremely rude check-in staff who mocked me for not having all my papers ready, and then complained that I took too long while searching for them using the barely working airport wi-fi.

✅ Trip Verified | I was there while in transit, the first thing is that the people at this airport are the rudest I have ever seen when upon asking about free internet. They said they knew nothing and pretended not to speak English, being an international airport people need to have some basic language skills to assist passengers but no. There were plenty of eateries but no water refills, what a disappointment, prepare to buy bottle and water ditch your empty bottles.

✅ Trip Verified | Worst customer service ever. I have travelled to many countries but haven’t seen such customer service. We had a connecting flight and had a 3 hour stay which turned into a 3 day stay. They don’t help at all. The staff at the airport don’t know a single English word and expect people to understand Turkish. We walked for days and nobody was ready to help or at least guide us. We had 2 patients with us but they didn’t care whatsoever. The staff are rude and don’t even talk nicely.